May 30, 2025

. . . And that's May! We are officially done with all of the required end of the year assessments. The students are still working on their research (of a Vermont animal) and writing of a non-fiction book. This has been a fun unit and the kids are really excited about the project. This week in math, the first graders took the end of year Bridge's assessment. They also worked on counting money and solving story problems. We will finish the last two weeks of math with measuring and data collection activities. 

We continue to explore all of the new books that we received.  This week we read the following titles:

• The Book That Almost Rhymed
• Oh No the Aunts are Here
• Two Dogs

As I have stated many times, my goal this year was to help the students develop a love for reading. Although I don't think 100% of the students are there an encouraging sign happened on Wednesday. At the end of the day I said, "We won't send the reading bags home tonight," there was a collective moan from the group. They were disappointed and ask that we could. When kids are asking for extra reading on a sunny day, that is a good thing. The reading bags (for those who continue to bring them back) will continue to be sent home through June 12th.

Each year, I do a Last Day of School Breakfast. I like doing this instead of a huge sugar party to end the year. It is always fun to celebrate the year gone by and the work that we have done as a group. I will make pancakes for the class but could use some other items for the party. If you can contribute, please click on this link and sign up for an item.

NOTES:

*Friday, June 13th will be field days (in the afternoon).  This is always a fun and exciting event for all of the kids. There is a very good chance that the kids will get wet. There is a smaller chance that it will be very sunny. Please make sure that your kids dress accordingly.  They can change into something before the start of the event if needed.  

*The Scholastic book orders should be in next week. If you would like me to not send the books home with your child, please let me know by Monday. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,

Mr. Young

May 23, 2025

 Good Afternoon,

The day the long weekend starts equals a shortcut by me with the post. Here is the week review in pictures. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Peace,

Mr. Young

May 16, 2025

Good Morning,

I hope you have all had a great week. I also hope that you all enjoyed your child's performance at this week's musical performance. It is amazing how fast May is flying by. We have 22 days left and still have so much to do.

This week the students all completed a District mandated writing screener. This assessment lets the students show us what they can do with grammar, use and mechanics when writing sentences. There is specific criteria for each grade. They also completed the Primary Spelling Assessment. The Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI) is a standardized test used to assess students' spelling skills from kindergarten through third grade. It helps teachers determine a student's developmental stage in spelling, identify areas where they need additional support, and guide instruction. I do this screening 3 times a year. 

This week we started a Non-Fiction writing unit. The goal of this unit is to have the students be able to research a topic and then write a small non-fiction book about the specific focus. This week we identified the parts of a non-fiction book and are collaborating on writing a book about basketball. One of the Language Arts goals is that students can listen to media and then report out on knowledge gained. This standard will be prevalent throughout the scope and sequence of  this unit. Eventually the students will be writing a book about a Vermont animal that they chose.

This past Wednesday marked the 2nd week of our school's Inspiration Hour. The students were still pretty excited for the event and today the daily vote showed that the majority of the students had a great time with Wednesday's activities. I have been with the group exploring the solar system. Brian Wray, the owner of Inklings bookstore, has been leading this group. This week he was leading the students in activities that focused on the phases of the moon and craters. 

Almost all of our new books arrived in our classroom this week. The kids are very excited about all of the new titles. This week I was Abel to read 4 of them during read a loud time. There is something so special when you see a group of kids just enjoying a great picture book. Again, I would like to thank the PTA for their generosity in obtaining these books.

NOTES:

*As a reminder, the book orders are due 5/23/25. Plus place an order of $25 or more and you can pick a FREE $5 book (use code READS at checkout). 

Shop Our Class Page:  https://orders.scholastic.com/K3277 

Shop Flyers: https://clubs.scholastic.com/all-flyers

*I wanted to repeat the need for some of your children to have an extra school snack available in their backpacks. Please check with them to see if they are seeking one during the day. You may have to tell them that the item is specifically for snack.

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. If you are inclined and extra cheer for the NY Knicks would be greatly appreciated during Friday's game!  

Peace.

Mr. Young

May 9, 2025

I hope everyone had a great week. It certainly was a wet one and it had an effect on some of the recess times but the students handled it all with ease. I used this week as a gap week between ending our opinion unit and starting our non-fiction writing unit. The time was used to learn about the traditions and celebrations of Mother's Day and the kids created some gifts and did some writing about their own mothers. Hopefully they will remember to give you these gifts this weekend. I will be honest in saying, one of the gifts might be hard for some of your kids to give up. There was a lot of interests in keeping the gift for themselves (although not all of them).  I do hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day.  

This week's read a louds also focused on the Mother's Day theme too. We read books like I'll Love You Forever, How to Raise A Mom, and Illama Illama, Where's My Mother? 

I use a website called Donor's Choose for items I am hoping to obtain for my classroom. It has helped me build an expansive library of the years. This past week I had two two projects that were funded by some friends, our own PTA and matching donations by a company in Pennsylvania. The 30 new books and art supplies should be arriving over the next week. The kids will be psyched to have so many new books added to our library. This continues to support my class goal of each student developing a love for reading. A huge thank you to the PTA and for the other donors. 

This Wednesday marked the 1st week of our school's Inspiration Hour. The students were all very excited about this and all seemed to enjoy the 1st week. We will have our 2nd session on Wednesday of this coming week. Please make sure your child dresses accordingly (if they have an outside activity). We are certainly lucky to have so many dedicated and talented people in our community. It's extra special that they are willing to share these gifts with our students. 

FINAL BOOK ORDER:

I will be submitting the final book order of the year on May 23, 2025. This will allow for the books to arrive before the last day of school. Plus place an order of $25 or more and you can pick a FREE $5 book (use code READS at checkout). This can allow you to have some new books for your child to read over the summer. No orders will be placed after the 23rd date.

Shop Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/K3277

 

Shop Flyers: https://clubs.scholastic.com/all-flyers

Class Code: K3277

NOTES:
*Many of the children are now seeking a 2nd snack mid morning. I use to have extra snack to offer but now that so many want it, the supplies are dwindling. Please check with your child about this and put an extra snack in their bag if it is needed. 

*Over the next few weeks, I will be conducting a variety of end of year assessments that will allow me to look at final progress, and also allow me to accurately fill in report card grades. Please do your best to have the students in school each day. I appreciate your help with this.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Peace,

Mr. Young

May 2, 2025

Good Afternoon All!  I hope you all had a great week. I started the week talking with the students about how much schoolwork e still had left and that there is a lot of work we need to get through. I will keep this tone through the last week of school. As the weather changes, the students can lose focus (as well as the teacher) rather quickly. We all would love to be outside in the sunshine. However, I have found over the years, that having this conversation helps them understand that we still have stuff to do. 

This week the students completed their final assessment for our opinion writing unit. Each student was asked to pick their favorite place to visit. They then wrote a piece to convince me about why this place was so great. The students have all done a fantastic job with this unit and I am very proud of their work.

One of our read a louds this week was Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli. "is a rhyming story about monsters who insist they don't eat broccoli, even though they're surrounded by it. The monsters prefer other items like tractors, rocket ships, and building blocks. The story highlights the monsters' aversion to broccoli while also subtly suggesting that vegetables, like broccoli, are not always so bad." I taught the kids about the use of foreground and back ground in the illustrations. The students then created an illustration of their favorite part and wrote a few sentences to describe why they liked it.  

NOTES:

*There will be no writing volunteers needed this coming week. We will be working on a special Mother's day project those three days. In order to keep it a surprise, I will ask that you all take a week off. 

That is all for now.  I hope you all have a great week.

Peace,

Mr. Young